Rowena Gerber heads the Education and Youth group of the Solar Cookers World Network. Rowena, a school teacher, has gotten many students into serious solar cooker design and construction. She also takes part in international gatherings.

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News and recent developments

Students set a world record baking cookies with solar ovens to raise funds for solar cooking efforts in Haiti.

October 2012: Students, parents, faculty, staff and friends gathered at Miami Country Day School located in Miami, Florida, USA on Friday, April 20, 2012 and set the Guinness Book of World Records™ for “The Most Cookies Baked in One Hour Using Solar Ovens”. Trays of unbaked cookies were placed in 40 smaller solar ovens, as well as, two Villager solar ovens. After the cookies were baked and 1225 counted....a World Record was set! The event raised over $18,000 USD, which was used to send the 40 solar ovens and a Villager oven to Haiti. The cookies baked in the event were donated to Feeding South Florida. The event was lead by Matthew Cohen, a high school junior who has been actively involved in the solar oven movement for the past nine years. Cohen launched the website Power from the Sun to educate people worldwide on the benefits of solar cooking and help raise money to send solar ovens to needy families in Haiti. Cohen’s latest project is aptly named “The Life Of The Traveling Solar Oven” and encourages students, parents, teachers, and local businesses to sponsor a solar oven. Participants are asked to use the solar oven, document their experience with video or photos and share it on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/PowerFromTheSun. The event will conclude on Earth Day 2013.

November 2010: On November 20th, Rowena received the Global Educator Award from the 6th Annual MY HERO Film Festival to recognize the incredible impact of her Solar Oven Project. Over the years, Gerber and her students have raised thousands of dollars to send solar cookers to Senegal, Haiti and Afghanistan. Gerber chose sites that were “sun rich, but so poor otherwise.” These solar ovens harness sunlight to make a tremendous difference in the lives of families. In the process, the Solar Oven Project also teaches children about the importance of protecting and preserving their environment. More Information...

August 2009: Rowena Gerber was honored as a Teacher Hero on http://www.myhero.com. Click here for a the full article, including a statement from a student as well as an interview with Rowena.

November 2007: Rowena Gerber, director of the Abess Center for Environmental Studies at Miami Country Day School, reports that her students’ solar cooking activities during Earth Day in New York’s Central Park were quite successful. At 6:00 a.m., Paul Munsen, president of Sun Ovens International, set up one of his company’s giant Villager Sun Ovens® as a teaser to draw a crowd. ABC television broadcast solar cooking updates throughout the day, at various stages of the process. During one segment, the anchor man was served a solar-cooked breakfast of sausage, eggs and cinnamon rolls! As the day progressed, thousands of people filed by to taste the food and learn about solar cooking. Gerber’s students brought some of the solar cookers they had made from recycled materials, and cooked chicken, sausage, hotdogs, corn-on-the-cob, fondue, cookies, bread, and lots of other goodies. Gerber’s students collected donations throughout the day as part of an ongoing effort to raise funds to send a Villager Sun Oven® to Mekhe, Senegal, for a program run by Abdoulaye Toure.